Archive for July, 2008

My mom introduced me to these washcloths over a decade ago when I still lived in Hawaii, and I used them ever since… until we moved to Colorado. There’s no Longs Drugs here to buy them at, and the asian markets don’t have them either, so I finally decided to hunt them down on the Internet and… guess what? I ended up buying a 10 pack from a distributor in Hawaii! How funny is that!

I’m going to make a bold statement here: if you are using anyting other than these specific washcloths, you are probably not as clean as you could be. Cotton wash cloths, sponges, and those nylon poofs from those specialty bath stores are not abrasive enough, and they don’t always do a good job of holding the lather.

So what makes these so special? They hold a LOT of lather, and as we all know, it’s the lather that does the cleaning, not the soap; i.e. smearing a bar of soap on your hand and rinsing it off is less effective than lathering it up really well. Also, they are ABRASIVE. I warn you, if you want to try these for the first time, be prepared: you will feel like you are rubbing sand paper across your body. I had to get used to it again after not having used them for 2 years.

But after you finish your first shower with them, you WILL be able to tell the difference. Your skin will feel softer and smoother, and you will feel cleaner. It’s kind of like using a Sonicare toothbrush for the fist time and noticing how smooth and clean your teeth feel compared to a regular toothbrush.

Of all the things I miss about Hawaii, the spicy tuna from Genki Sushi is probably in the top 10. If you’ve ever had it, you would know that it is unlike any spicy tuna sushi ever made in any other sushi restaurant ever in the world (ok, maybe that’s taking it a little far, but i’ve been to a LOT of sushi restaurants, and I’ve never had anything like it anywhere).

Mix this up with some sesame oil and tobiko to taste, garnish with green onions, and you’ve got a pretty close approximation to the Genki spicy tuna. At least from what I can tell after missing it for a year or so.

You never think it will happen to you. It comes when least expected. You notice something “funny” happening with your Xbox 360… then… Dun Dun Duuuuuun…

The Red Ring of Death! Most people don’t think it, but I talk about video games more than I actually play them. But now that I don’t have it, I wants to play it!!! Oh well, at least it’s still covered under warranty.

I know, I know, “What?!?!” Windows Vista has gotten a pretty bad rap in the mainstream media… and the non-mainstream media, technical trade publications, non-technical publications, blogs, tv, etc. etc. It’s true: Vista isn’t perfect. And there were a lot of issues with it when it was initially released. Most of these issues stemmed from incompatible hardware drivers.

On the other hand, Mac OS has enjoyed an almost “Messiah” status, mostly amongst the Starbucks crowd (you know who you are). I don’t disagree that Mac OS is pretty darn slick, and in reality, my next computer purchase will probably be a Mac (especially since they now come with Intel processors, and thus allow me to run Windows as well).

That being said, I have to admit that I only recently upgraded to Windows Vista (yes, I consider it an upgrade), and it is pretty darn slick in it’s own right. If you consider the fact that Microsoft has to cater to thousands of hardware manufacturers for compatibility, while Mac has had to cater to only one (and now a handful), it’s a pretty impressive feat. If Windows only needed to run on a handful of computer models, there would have been no backlash, and all the time and effort spent on hardware compatibility could have been spent on innovation. But even with the odds stacked against them, they were able to come out with something pretty decent.

After having used it for a couple of months now, I still have only scratched the surface of what it can do, and I look forward to finding out what else is hiding in there. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, and the more you know about what Vista can do and how it works, the more accepting you would probably be of it yourself… but don’t call me to find out what those things are, please, i’ve got my hands full at the moment.

1. Arching back while on tummy
2. Babbling and doing “baby talk” a LOT more
3. Laughing (kind of)
4. Grabbing things and pulling them to her mouth with both hands
5. Staying awake longer
6. Sleeping longer
7. Not crying when her diaper is being changed or when taking a bath
8. Smiling a lot more when she sees mommy or daddy and thus melting our hearts… awe…

Korean food is not NEARLY as accessible as it used to be in Hawaii. Thank goodness mom came to visit! Mom was cooking up some type of Korean soup or stew or dish almost every other day for her month long visit, and Jenny was here to help eat it! And to take lots of pics of Lana! Thanks for all your help and we’ll see you soon!